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I HATE FAIRYLAND #4 Review

In this issue we have a new narrator. Well, we had to really, these guys are like red shirts in Star Trek. You know, red shirts go on a landing party and they don’t last long, it's the same with the narrators of Gertrude’s adventures, the guide really should do something about that. While this one, a grub, recounts the impossibility of Gertrude’s survival, Larry shoots him. It kinda looks like one of those extreme slow motion ballistics shoots through a solid ballistics gel block.

Turn the page and poor Gertrude is staggering to her feet. Everything is broken, an eye is hanging out of its socket, all very unpleasant. Then Larry blows green smoke on her, and hey presto, she’s right as rain again and demanding the use of the Vanity Gate. That’s a magic mirror to you and me.

Cut to Queen Cloudia at the beauty parlour. Looking in a mirror. Getting sucked in. Needless to say, Cloudia is not happy to be facing her nemesis. Gettrude’s even less happy when she finds out what’s going on, ballistic just about covers it. But plans can be made, and Larry suggests that to beat Happy, Gertrude would, and I quote “Probably just do something completely impossible like wielding the power of one of the SEVEN EVIL DOOMS.”

Guess what Gertrude’s going to do…

Meanwhile Happy is busy lifting curses, and getting where Gertrude should have got twenty-odd years ago - Loving the Snowzies, gotta check out the Snowzies. Then we get to Pillopolis. And yes, those creepy patchwork things from the fabric softener adverts would feel right at home here.

Larry tries to point out the the whole Evil Doom thing wasn’t really an idea, but Gertrude is deep in the Forest of Doomed Trees by that point. Cutting bug eyed sharp teethed ‘things’ in two with a bloody big axe is one thing, but the automatic gun that slices through them is something else, something altogether more satisfying to watch. From there it’s on to the Bawling Fields - cabbage patch kids screaming at the top of their lungs. Then on to scale the Peaks of the Snoring Snotties, and outrun the Borrgle’s Breath. Next into the boat to cross the Red Sea and onto a creepy castle on top of a Giant Skull Rock. Once inside there’s a great little panel of Gertrude’s besotted eyes, before a fantastic double page spread, Gertrude loves the décor, and frankly I can see why.

But the Dark Lord Darketh Deaddeath is “an evil poet with control issues” who knows exactly what is going on. Still, if Gertrude wants to use his powers, she’s first got to prove her worth and get through his dungeon…

Can’t wait to see that.

This issue keeps up the good work, and at the end treats us to some great single page images of Gertrude as imagined by various artists. The double spreads of the castle, both the inside and the out are great.

A four out of five for this one. Oh Darketh Deaddeath, yes I want to see more of him.

The cover of this issue is wonderful! Queen Cloudia couldn’t look happier as she holds up a skeletonised Gertrude.

Gail Williams lives in her own private dungeon populated with all the weird and
the wonderful she can imagine. Some of it’s very weird, and the odd bits
and pieces are a bit wonderful. Well okay, she lives in Swansea with
her husband and daughter. And the world’s most demanding cat. To find
out more about Gail, check out www.gailbwilliams.co.uk - Dare you!